Alloy refurb gone wrong

RCampbell1

Active Member
Jan 8, 2017
70
24
UK
I had an alloy refurbished today as I scuffed a kerb by accident last week. It's the second time that that alloy has been refurbed. When I picked it up I thought wtf, they've ruined it.

They're trying to say it's because it has been refurbed before but I said they should have called me and explained it was going to significantly change its appearance, because it's been done before, and would I still like to proceed.

I was considering trading in the car and with a scuff in wheel it would have knocked up to £300 off price. I reckon a dealer would be taking of the price of a whole new wheel now.

I think I'm going to have to take legal recourse would that be Ill advised?

First pic is refurbed wheel the second is an original unrefurbed

IMG-20200626-WA0007.jpeg
 

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ray

Active Member
Jan 7, 2016
591
190
Waow!

I mean, they’ve taken a lot off it however depending on how bad the scuff was depends how much they need to take off. Do you have a pic of it before it was refurbed?

I suppose that’s the biggest issue with this design that when having the alloys done it will always make the Surface on the spokes larger since they increase in size the further back they go. Sucky situation


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Titchy

Active Member
Jun 10, 2017
520
208
Buckinghamshire
Damn, there’s a limit to the amount of material you can remove from an alloy, after which it becomes too weak. How much I’m not sure it maybe buried in the seat manuals

IMO That looks like they removed way too much, look at the SEAT Badge its no longer flush. Must be at least 3mm even 5mm making it unroadworthy. That would be my argument.


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RCampbell1

Active Member
Jan 8, 2017
70
24
UK
Waow!

I mean, they’ve taken a lot off it however depending on how bad the scuff was depends how much they need to take off. Do you have a pic of it before it was refurbed?

I suppose that’s the biggest issue with this design that when having the alloys done it will always make the Surface on the spokes larger since they increase in size the further back they go. Sucky situation


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Here was the scuff in question
 

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black_sheep

Active Member
Mar 10, 2013
1,256
585
In terms of the badge sticking out, it’s because the face has been cut flat, whereas the original has a recess to accommodate the centre cap so that it sits flush.

To be honest the spokes on the original (post first cut) are much wider than a new wheel - these Cupra wheels even after a single recut are significantly different to as new condition - I think that the contrast between gloss black paint and diamond face doesn’t help either.

New rim is c£600, with best offer at c£450 with some discount.
 
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Seriously?

Active Member
Apr 20, 2018
1,237
831
That sucks! And if you are anywhere close to being OCD, every time you look at the car, you'll see it.
I absolutely hate the current fad of diamond cut wheels. Yes, they look great, but in practical terms, they are hopeless.
 

BigJase88

Jase
Apr 20, 2008
3,767
1,069
That sucks! And if you are anywhere close to being OCD, every time you look at the car, you'll see it.
I absolutely hate the current fad of diamond cut wheels. Yes, they look great, but in practical terms, they are hopeless.
I would agree the example of how the wheel should look is a front alloy whereas the one that has been refurbed looks like a rear and with the previous repair looks well “down” already so with the subsequent refurb it has to go “down” more.

probably the best that could of been done to be fair.

as a trade in they won’t mark it down, it’s not scuffed is it, take the car in dirty. They wont notice
 
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RCampbell1

Active Member
Jan 8, 2017
70
24
UK
To be honest the spokes on the original (post first cut) are much wider than a new wheel - these Cupra wheels even after a single recut are significantly different to as new condition - I think that the contrast between gloss black paint and diamond face doesn’t help either.

To be fair the first repair was pretty good and I really couldn't notice it had been done
 

SRGTD

Active Member
May 26, 2014
2,388
1,279
@RCampbell1; I’d be really unhappy if I had a wheel refurbished and it came back looking like that. Presumably the area that was kerbed is at the 11 o’clock position In the first picture that shows the wheel after it’s been refurbished.

It looks as if no filling of the damaged section was done as part of the repair (IMO it should have been filled) - the repairers have just cut the face back quite severely, removing far more metal than necessary - hence the face of the spokes looking wider than they were before the repair.

I’d have expected whoever you used to carry out the refurb to have added some new alloy to the kerbed section of the rim (by welding) to ‘fill‘ the scuff marks. Sufficient metal should be added so the filled area stands proud of (higher than) the surrounding existing metal. By doing this, when the face is re-cut, IMO it should only really be necessary to cut back the excess new metal from the filled section so it becomes level with the surrounding existing metal. Pretty much no metal - or very little metal - needed to be removed from the rest of the wheel‘s face.

As @Titchy has said, if too much metal has been removed, the structural integrity of the wheel may have been compromised, and that may have happened with your wheel.

That sucks! And if you are anywhere close to being OCD, every time you look at the car, you'll see it.
I absolutely hate the current fad of diamond cut wheels. Yes, they look great, but in practical terms, they are hopeless.

I’ve expressed my hatred of diamond cut alloys many times on the forum. I just wish car manufacturers would stop fitting them!
 

Afzal Hussain

Active Member
Oct 3, 2019
5
2
They have taken too much off. I have had worse kerb damage on my diamond cut wheels including lacquer damage where they only took around a thou or 2 off after stripping it down and spraying it. If honest, it's the company who have done a cowboy job. Unfortunately these days, every Tom, **** and Harry thinks they can refurb wheels with some of them not having a clue on what they are doing. I would personally get on their case about it, to get a refund or if your wanting, to take it further. Hope it works out for you.
 
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RCampbell1

Active Member
Jan 8, 2017
70
24
UK
I bought my Cupra with scuffs in the alloys worse than that.

I wouldn't say that would of knocked £300 of the price of the P/X though..

I was basing the £300 on the arnold clark valuator. If I put in one wheel needed repaired or replaced it was knocking £300 off the value. Not the most scientific method I know. It's in for a service on Thursday let's see if the Seat people reckon it's now an unroadworthy wheel
 
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KXL

KXL
Dec 15, 2016
1,581
197
London, UK
I've scuffed my 'non Seat' diamond cut rims twice (same wheel) but the guys near Hendon stn (to be fair they are wheel specialist) did a good job on the wheels, wasn't a full refurb though, just a patch work. Only if i looked clearly and closely on the side I could notice (when it's clean) as the original parts had parallel lines running down, whereas the fixed part, was just smooth, but identical finish, I think yours is more at an angle though, but a good company can fix that well, perhaps just as couple of times only, before structure integrity are compromised...
 
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